IT Outsourcing Trends That Can Help Your Business Handle Today’s World Obstacles and Stay Ahead

Let’s be honest, 2023 could be nicer to the tech industry and not make it face that many challenges. Some of these challenges are caused by the post-pandemic reality, like the well-known shifts towards remote work. Others are the results of ongoing global layoffs. For example, up to now, close to 200.000 tech professionals, including both well-established companies and emerging startups, have lost their jobs. Lastly, quiet quitting also contributes to the tech talent shortage, comprising at least 50% of the US workforce.

Due to these reasons, many startups and medium-sized businesses opt for IT outsourcing to reduce expenses and fill their talent gaps. As a tech-enabled talent sourcing agency, Bridge endorses such a decision. From our personal experience, this approach allows employers to find the right talent much faster, while eliminating challenges like long onboarding or costly hiring campaigns. 

So, let’s learn what IT outsourcing trends you should follow to get the fitting tech talent and have your business prosper. But before that, you may still be wondering: “What benefits do businesses get from outsourcing, making it so popular?”. Let’s clear things up.

Main benefits of IT outsourcing 

IT outsourcing revenue will reach $145.7 billion by 2027, according to Statista. In particular, the HR outsourcing market is expected to reach $19.38 billion in 2023. But why do companies outsource?  In brief, we can say that IT outsourcing allows tech businesses to:

• Minimize expenses. For instance, businesses can reduce costs by up to 27.2% on training, upskilling, or hiring staff for short-term IT projects. What’s more, you won’t have to purchase any equipment or take care of the payroll – your service provider will do this for you.
• Access to skilled technical specialists. With IT outsourcing, you have higher chances of finding vetted engineers who may not actively seek new job opportunities but are open to working on interesting projects. 

As an example, Jasper.ai, a leading AI content platform, has recently reached out to us to help them find 10 front-end and full-stack engineers with experience in specific JS technologies and an interest in AI/ML and GPT-3 algorithms. What’s more, candidates should be living in the Bay area or other popular engineering areas like Austin and New York. In case of classical hiring, this would take them more than a year to gather a list of candidates that match their expectations, but our sourcing-as-a-service allowed Jasper.ai to find and interview 20 Middle and Senior-level engineers within just one month.

• Save time. With IT outsourcing, you can offload non-core IT tasks to the remote team, while your in-house team can focus on their key responsibilities. The same thing can be done with hiring, by the way. For instance, our sourcing engine lets us automate 80% of the hiring process, identifying a precise talent pool based on your requirements. Our sourcers are responsible for the rest 20%, for reaching out to potential candidates in their native language and inviting them for an interview.
• Ensure flexibility. When you need to scale your team fast during a busy season, IT outsourcing is your go-to. By outsourcing your IT, you can easily ramp your team up and down, which allows you to adapt to changing market needs.

With that being said, let’s talk about key IT outsourcing trends of 2023.

Top 5 IT outsourcing trends to follow in 2023

Let’s find out what IT services outsourcing trends can help your business stay competitive in today’s market.

Hiring niche talent

Many businesses are becoming more and more interested in hiring niche experts, especially when talking about AI/ML engineers or software architects. But why so? 

First and foremost, experienced niche specialists bring a unique set of skills and expertise that can help you gain a competitive edge and tackle complex challenges with ease. Also, as a rule of thumb, more experienced developers need less time to solve the development tasks, which can help you save valuable resources in the long run. Lastly, niche experts can bring fresh and innovative ideas to your project, fostering the culture of innovation.

Now, is it easy to catch such a rare fish? Well, no. In fact, 77% of US employers struggle to find tech talent, especially for projects that require new technologies. So, if you’re willing to attract niche experts to your team, get ready for fierce competition or consider partnering with a company that knows how to attract top tech talent.

Startups and small businesses outsourcing surge

IT outsourcing has become particularly tempting for small businesses and startups that are just getting started. According to the Clutch survey, in 2022, 90% of small US businesses gave preference to outsourcing their tech tasks, marking a 10% rise compared to 2021. This upward trend is also expected to persist in 2023.

Among the biggest benefits startups and small businesses get from outsourcing is exceptional flexibility in candidate hiring. As we said previously, IT outsourcing allows you to find the best-matched developers fast and effortlessly. And of course, we shouldn’t forget about cost savings. Let’s take Golang developers as an example. In the US, the average Golang developer salary is around $8500 per month, while in Argentina it’s around $4150 per month. So as you can see, recruiting talent for startups globally does seem like a promising idea.

Nearshore outsourcing is on the rise, too

Nearshoring is one of the current IT outsourcing trends that involves looking for candidates from nearby countries rather than overseas. Nearshore outsourcing is expected to contribute $78 billion to the export sector in Latin America and the Caribbean by the beginning of 2024.

Nearshoring has become especially popular among American companies. In a nutshell, it allows them to avoid problems related to time zones, labor regulations, and cultural differences when compared to offshoring. In this regard, Mexico stands out as a top nearshore destination full of bright tech talents with superior STEM education and substantially lower salary expectations compared to the price for the same services in the US. In Mexico, software engineers earn from $25 to $50 per hour on average. This translates to $1500 per month and $18.000 per year. Also, picture this, in 2021, there were 700.000 tech professionals in Mexico. So it’s no wonder that many companies choose nearshoring for hiring talent. 

IT outsourcing to Eastern Europe

According to Statista, the Eastern Europe IT outsourcing segment will experience a 9.26% growth between 2023 and 2027, reaching a market volume of $5.94 billion by 2027. But why are tech experts from Eastern Europe often chosen by companies from North America that face talent shortage? 

First of all, the software development sector in Eastern Europe covers an impressive workforce of over 1.3 million developers. Furthermore, IT outsourcing to Eastern Europe provides plenty of advantages, like cultural similarity, reduced expenses, solid English proficiency, and, of course, high-quality technical education of candidates. All these facts combined make Eastern European developers safely secure positions among the top 10 best developers globally.

One of the best Eastern European countries for IT outsourcing is considered to be Ukraine. Even now, in the face of full-scale war, the Ukrainian IT sector stays on the wave and supports the country’s economy. The world also reopened Ukrainians as a strong and united nation with thousands of smart, diligent people who show great results in severe conditions. The stats prove this. In the first quarter of 2022, the Ukrainian IT industry achieved a remarkable revenue of $2 billion. In February 2023, there were around 300.000 IT specialists, which is 30.000 more than the previous year. So it’s safe to say that Ukraine can be a good location for sourcing tech talent.

IT outsourcing to Latin America

Among the array of promising outsourcing destinations, Latin America emerges as a notable choice. According to Crunchbase, Latin America is the fastest-growing region globally in terms of venture funding.  With its abundant tech talent pool, favorable business environment, cost-effective labor force, and other advantages of outsourcing to Latin America, this region is attractive for international companies and primarily for those that are headquartered in the United States. 

Since we at Bridge partner with local recruiters in LATAM, we know its job markets more than well. This experience enabled us to effectively source engineers in Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil for Mento.co, a career tech company.

Okay, seems to be about it. Keep these latest IT outsourcing trends in mind when you consider expanding your tech team or collaborating with a talent sourcing partner. Still, one question remains: what should you avoid when partnering with a service provider? Let’s look at some hidden pitfalls.

What factors to consider when choosing a tech talent sourcing provider?

Choosing a tech talent sourcing provider becomes crucial when you are looking to acquire skilled professionals who match your specific requirements and contribute to the success of your projects.

The next key factors can help you pick the best IT talent sourcing provider for your project:

• Expertise and specialization. Take your time to evaluate the provider’s level of expertise in talent acquisition, in particular, the developers you’re interested in hiring. Additionally, examine the provider’s cases and online reviews to verify their ability to consistently deliver successful outcomes in hiring specific developers.
• Talent pool and network. Assess the size, quality, and diversity of the provider’s talent pool. A comprehensive evaluation of their ability to tap into a broad network of highly skilled professionals will enable you to gauge their capacity to meet your specific requirements. 

As for Bridge, our recruitment efforts span 11 countries, covering 3 continents, namely Europe, North America, and South America. In total, we have access to the talent pool of more than 900.000 IT professionals.

• Recruitment process and screening. Learn more about your potential provider’s recruitment process and ways they hire remote developers. Ask them about their methods for sourcing, screening, and assessing candidates to ensure a robust selection process that guarantees the right fit for your project’s needs and cultural environment.
• Time to fill positions. Consider the provider’s average time to fill positions. Timeliness in providing access to talent is crucial for meeting project deadlines and maintaining operational efficiency. Ensuring that the provider can promptly deliver the required professionals is essential for smooth project execution.
• Reputation and track record. Conduct thorough research into the provider’s reputation within your industry. Look for client testimonials, case studies, and such to check their reliability and the level of professionalism. By the way, on our website, you can check our client testimonials and learn how we helped them source the right tech talent.  

Conclusion

By 2027, the total value of the outsourcing industry is predicted to reach $405.6 billion. And it is not surprising, as outsourcing saves time, cuts costs, and provides access to experienced professionals. Moreover, it eliminates the need for having solid technical expertise to manage a team. 

Considering all these advantages and the 5 major drivers of IT outsourcing we covered, it’s time to give it a try! And in case there are still some questions you would like to clarify, we can help you. Being a technology-first company with an advanced sourcing engine and deep expertise in the tech industry, we can help you source highly skilled candidates, saving you time and resources. Today and tomorrow, Bridge is always ready to connect your business with top tech professionals all over the world. 

Contact us today to expand your team hassle and stress-free!